Beta_Chamaeleontis
Beta Chamaeleontis
Star in the constellation Chamaeleon
Beta Chamaeleontis, Latinized from β Chamaeleontis, is the third-brightest star in the southern constellation of Chamaeleon. A solitary,[12] suspected variable star, it is visible to the naked eye as a faint blue-white point of light with an apparent visual magnitude that has been measured ranging between 4.24 and 4.30.[3] Parallax measurements yield a distance estimate of 298 light years from the Sun, and it is drifting further away with a radial velocity of +23 km/s.[6]
This is a B-type main-sequence star with a stellar classification of B4 V[4] that is generating energy through core hydrogen fusion. It has been catalogued both as a Be star[2] and a normal star.[13] This object is about 23[8] million years old with a high projected rotational velocity of 255 km/s.[5] The rapid rotation is creating an equatorial bulge that is 12% larger than the polar radius.[14] The star has five[8] times the mass of the Sun and 2.8[9] times the Sun's radius. It is radiating 212[10] times the luminosity of the Sun from its photosphere at an effective temperature of 14,495 K.[9]